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October 02, 2009

I am not hungry and you are not in love

Recently, Swami Pragyananda Maharaj was sharing an interesting anecdote at a satsang in the Vishalakshi Mantap - thought of sharing it.

It was when Sri Krishna went to Duryodhana as a peace ambassador of Pandavas. His peace proposal was out-rightly rejected. When he decided to leave, Duryodhana out of courtesy asked Sri Krishna to stay with them and have lunch before leaving. To this he replied – ‘Mujhe bhuk nahi hain aur tumhe prem nahi hain!’ (I am not hungry and you are not offering me out of love), so why should I?

Saying this he left for Vidura’s home, where Vidura’s wife received him. She was too overwhelmed to see him. She rushed to the kitchen to fetch some bananas. She started peeling the bananas and offering it to him while praising him all the time. What she did not realize was that she was offering the peels and throwing the fruit away.

When Vidura came to know that Sri Krishna has gone to his home, he rushed home and he was very puzzled to see what was happening – Vidura’s wife was sitting there totally awestruck and Sri Krishna was eating the peels being offered to him.Vidura gently reprimanded her and brought fresh bananas and offered the fruit. He then asked Sri Krishna – ‘Ab swaad aa raha hain?’ (Does it taste good now?). Sri Krishna replied – ‘Swaad to aa raha tha, ab nahi aa raha’ (It was tasting good earlier, now it is all gone). Vidura understood his folly and quickly asked for pardon.

What is offered with sincere devotion is readily accepted by the divine rather than the best or the most impressive offering.

Guruji added in a light manner that this happens with Him too :-) He then narrated such an incident that happened in Delhi where a devotee kept on offering him orange peels and throwing away the fruit.

I feel like sharing a couple of personal experiences with Guruji.A few years back when I was travelling with Guruji, there was some baggage mix up and an extra bag was picked up by our volunteers. When we realized it, we opened the bag, found the person’s contact number and quickly called up to inform him of the mix up. To our amazement that person was very thrilled!

He said that his wife had made some snacks for Krishna Janmashtami and offered it in the puja – she had actually wanted to give it to Guruji. Later she packed in her husband’s bag and had asked him to give it in a Krishna temple. The couple was so overjoyed that the bag had actually reached Him! He asked us to take the snacks out and then return the bag.

Another personal experience that I thought I should write about:My wife (Smita) occasionally makes some dishes for Guruji and takes it to Him. I used to think that unless it something special or unique, what is there to offer. So, once when Smita made me take some sweets for him (while she was not in town), Guruji took it and said that He is not eating sweets nowadays.

A couple of weeks later, Smita baked a cake for Him and took it – and He readily took it and told her that if she has made it, He would have it.

It was another lesson to stop applying the head in matters of the heart. The phrase still lingers on in my mind – ‘Mujhe bhuk nahi hain aur tumhe prem nahi hain!’. Devotion score over anything else.

What is this about?

It all started by a thought that crossed my mind in May 08. I completed 10 years of my job in Bangalore and it seemed that a technological generation gap had started emerging. Like the older generation who even today think that mobile phones are dispensable, I had not appreciated the power of e-communication!

As soon as you put your attention on some aspect of life, you start seeing only those things around you. There has been so much talk about celebrity blogs and also discovered that my teacher had taken this up. So here I am - presenting my thoughts and ideas. Happy reading and enjoy.